First Impressions
by Wishing-for-a-Wand
Summary: Nymphadora Tonks attends her first Order meeting and has a meeting unlike any she'd anticipated. First impressions can be misleading, but then again, they can sometimes be a sign of greater things to come.


First Impressions

Nymphadora Tonks stepped cautiously into the dimly lit hall of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Mad-Eye beckoned her and Kingsley farther into the narrow house. The two men went before her and turned into the first side door. Tonks glanced around the hall before following.

So this was Order of the Phoenix Headquarters. The walls were coated in cobwebs and dust, the floorboards creaked with her every step, and the lamp flickered ineffectively, casting deep shadows on every surface. It was about as welcoming as the dungeons of Hogwarts.

But she supposed it was also safe. Surely the last place anyone would look for a secret resistance group. Tonks started after her guide and caught her foot on a protruding umbrella stand made from the foot of a troll. She lost her already precarious balance and was sent stumbling forward.

Her graceless descent would have landed her on the floor if not for a pair of arms slipping around her at the last moment. Her rescuer righted her and lent a steadying hand, which she took so as not to fall again.

The hall was still dark, but she got a look at the man who had saved her. It wasn't Mad-Eye or Kingsley, but a stranger. Tonks assumed he was a member of the Order. "Wotcher."

The man was still young, but the lines around his eyes and the streaks of grey in his hair conveyed a life of hardship. He wore drab and patched robes, but his eyes were kind and amused.

"Hello. Are you all right?" the stranger asked her, and she could tell he genuinely wanted to know.

Tonks felt strangely pulled in by those eyes, and she was a moment in answering. "Fine. I'm sorry, I'm just so dead clumsy..." She chuckled nervously.

"You certainly know how to make an entrance."

The man's joking manner relaxed her, and she joined him with a real chuckle. She waved her arm to indicate her fall. "Yes, well, I practice that... Sorry, I'm Tonks," she said offering her hand to the stranger. He raised a curious eyebrow, waiting for more name to follow. "Just Tonks," she told him.

He nodded, understanding, and took her proffered hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Remus." He sounded like him might continue, but smiled instead and ended with, "Just Remus."

Tonks grinned. She liked this man, Remus. He had imitated her without mocking her. She could tell he was someone she might like to get to know. "Hi."

"You're with Mad-Eye, aren't you?" Remus asked her.

The quip was out of her mouth before she could really think about it. "I came with him, but we're not together." She was in a strange place with a practical stranger, and normally she would have answered in all seriousness, but Tonks felt she could joke with this man.

Remus got her joke instantly, and didn't miss a beat replying. "I'm relieved to hear that. Had you said otherwise, I would have felt it my duty to warn you of his peculiarities."

"Oh?" Now she was intrigued.

With a nod and a hint of a grin, Remus explained. "Moody may well be the greatest Auror in Britain, but his nickname didn't come from that eye of his."

Very true. "Actually he's my boss."

"Ah, then you already knew that."

Tonks grinned up at him. "Got that right." Auror training with Mad-Eye had been an experience in which she learned much about the madness of Alastor Moody.

"And your other companion?" Remus asked.

She turned to look at the door her fellow Aurors had passed through. "Kingsley Shacklebolt. I don't know him all that well. He's an Auror too, though."

"And so are you."

His voice was soft, and it wasn't a question. "Yes, surprised?"

Remus shook his head then met her eyes. "No, impressed."

Pleased with his answer, she began to ask about her surroundings. "So this is the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Headquarters, yes. The meeting won't start for a while yet; Mad-Eye likes to get here plenty early to recast his wards." Remus paused, seemed to consider, and then asked, "Would you like a quick tour of our charming facility?"

Tonks smiled at him. "That sounds lovely."

Remus led her through the first door on the right. The room was large but filled mostly by a table of similar proportions. "Well, obviously this is the kitchen. This is where we have meetings, and since Molly insists on feeding us well, the most productive of our actions take place right here."

The next room in the tour was the drawing room. "As you can see, our renovations haven't quite gotten this far. The top layer of dust is thicker than dragon hide, and nearly everything in that cupboard bites. The house belongs to a friend of mine, but was decorated by his parents whose interests rather overlap what the Order is fighting."

Tonks stayed quiet through most of the tour, letting her guide explain and point out things. She tried to take it all in. "It's a work in progress. We haven't been here long. The bathroom is off to the left, but has yet to be purged, so I wouldn't recommend using it right away.

Soon they were back in the hall she had entered through. "The entryway you've seen." Remus told her. That mischievous gleam appeared in his brown eyes an instant before he continued. "It is furnished only by the troll's leg umbrella stand you were so wise to catalog immediately."

She knew she shouldn't be surprised by anything he said. Even in the short time since they'd met, Tonks knew to be wary of those twinkling eyes. "In my defense, it's huge and practically right in front of the door! And it's an umbrella stand made out of a troll's leg!"

"Well argued," he conceded. "I can't disagree with any of your points, so though you're the first, I suppose it could happen to anyone," he said, referring to her trip over the umbrella stand. Tonks stuck her tongue out at him, but he only gave out a hoarse laugh.

"Upstairs are several bedrooms for the use of Order members, another couple of sitting rooms, and the library. Most of its literature is related to Dark, and somewhat illegal magic, but I've managed to find a few interesting pieces."

Tonks glanced around the entryway again. "I'll admit, this isn't quite what I expected from the Headquarters of a secret from the government Order that fights dark wizards."

Remus shrugged. "I doubt the people are what you expected either."

She gave him a sideways look. "Is everyone in the Order like you?"

"No." His answer was instantaneous and final, and his eyes flicked quickly to hers. Remus noticed her reaction and gave her a somewhat forced smile. "I think you'll find that we're all types."

The thud and creak of someone approaching turned their heads to the stairs. Another man, this one with long black hair and piercing grey eyes sauntered into the entryway.

"Moony! Why didn't you tell me we had company?" he said when he spotted her. Tonks gazed up at the man, remembering him through a child's eyes. He studied her closely, a smile beginning to crease his features. "No, that couldn't be my dear little cousin."

Tonks watched him approach her. She had been warned, but she wasn't truly prepared to see him again. "Wotcher, Sirius. It's been a while." Her cousin stepped forward and enveloped her in a close hug. "I've missed you," she whispered into his shoulder.

Sirius nodded, and his eyes showed that he had missed her as well. "Fifteen years, little cousin. It's been a lifetime. It's good to see you, and all grown up, too. How have you been, Nymphadora?"

She gave an involuntary shudder at the use of her given name. "Not Nymphadora, Sirius! It's Tonks. Has been for a while."

Her cousin raised an eyebrow and placed a hand to his chest. "But not to family."

"To everyone," she informed him. "I hate that name. It's Tonks."

"I doubt your mum calls you that." Sirius pointed out. She gave him her best imitation of Mad-Eye's glare, and he rolled his eyes. "Fine, Tonks, I want you to meet my best friend in the world." Sirius placed an arm around her shoulders and waved his free hand at her guide. "This is Remus Lupin."

Tonks recognized the name immediately. Lupin had been the name in the Daily Prophet a few years back when the werewolf professor had resigned from Hogwarts. "We've met."

Remus, too, seemed to be studying her in a new light. "Under false pretenses apparently."

Sirius was oblivious to the expressions of his friend and cousin. He gave Tonks' shoulders another squeeze. "I can't believe you're here now. I'm going to fetch us some drinks; come with me. You too, Moony."

"We'll be along in just a moment, Padfoot," Remus said to Sirius. Her cousin shrugged and began to hum as he wandered off to the kitchen.

Tonks addressed the man before her, a stranger again. "Remus Lupin. You taught at Hogwarts." There was so much more she could say, but this was enough for now.

Remus responded in kind. "Nymphadora Tonks. You're Sirius' cousin."

She nodded. "All right, so neither of us are good at introductions."

That glint flickered in his brown eyes. "Apparently not."

"It was still nice to meet you, Remus." Werewolf or not, he seemed to be a good man. She had met him before knowing what he was, and she had liked the man she met. "Thanks for the tour, and for catching me. That doesn't usually happen."

He gave her a small shake of his head. "That's a shame. It was nice to meet you too, Nymphadora."

With that he followed Sirius to the kitchen. Tonks watched him leave and had the suspicion that she would come to know Remus Lupin rather well. It was a moment before she realized that he had called her by her given name. And that he knew full well she hated it. And that she hadn't noticed or minded at all.

Tonks let out a groan, and dashed after him, stumbling once over the troll's leg umbrella stand and calling, "Wait, no, it's Tonks! Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus!"


End file.
